“If only there were a way of combining cycling with transport”: Peloton coaches drive Mazda electric cars…to “support their active lifestyle”; Wout van Aert Cervélo auction reaches £11k; Cycle lane delivery; Infra made permanent + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
EF Education-Nippo boss Jonathan Vaughters asks the big question
So… Hate to ask… But, what is Santa Claus’ vaccine status?
— Jonathan Vaughters (@Vaughters) December 20, 2021
I want to see his biological passport and Rudolph’s FTP before I let you down that chimney…
"If only there were a way of combining cycling with transport": Peloton coaches drive Mazda electric cars...to "support their active lifestyle"
Peloton instructors take a spin with Mazda.@onepeloton‘s leading fitness coaches, Leanne and Ben, will be living with the all-electric #MazdaMX30 for six months, experiencing how the model supports their active lifestyle. pic.twitter.com/IrW5AN1Jcy
— Mazda UK (@Mazda_UK) December 20, 2021
This one has got real end of term vibes…like the people at Mazda were sat around trying to find a way to justify their partnership with Peloton’s coaches Leanne Hainsby and Ben Alldis, couldn’t think of anything vaguely plausible, so thought ‘to hell with it’ it’s Christmas, we’ll just say it’s to “support their active lifestyle”… that makes sense, doesn’t it?
If there is one thing Twitter is good for, it’s watching brand’s and ‘famous’ people get roasted when they try to promote something silly. And boy has Mazda been on the receiving end this morning…
If only there were some way of combining cycling with transport
— Stuart Helmer (@stuarthelmer) December 20, 2021
OR RIDE A BICYCLE!
— Elisabeth Anderson 💉💉💉 (@velobetty) December 20, 2021
Working the social media feed of a car manufacturer must be hilarious. Look up the phrases that mean ‘not owning a car’, then sticking them into your feed. Job done.
— Jon (@Jontafkasi) December 20, 2021
But what did the ‘cyclists’ say?
Well, Ben Alldis’ paid partnership Insta post promoting the vehicle showed him driving it around London and said: “it’s been the absolute dream […] It’s a great car for city living during the week and perfect for getting out of the city to see family and friends across the weekends.” There were unfortunately no clips of Ben inevitably stuck in a queue of drivers while cyclists on non-two grand subscription exercise bikes streamed past…
I could share some of Leanne’s post (which reads like…well, a Mazda advert) but I was preferring hearing what the good people of cycling Twitter had to say about the whole debacle, so let’s do more of that…
It doesn’t support an active lifestyle. It’s a car. It means they drive when they could use other ‘active‘ means. Stop trying to greenwash.
— Peter Smith (@Pinarello_Pete) December 21, 2021
Riviera Rider replied: “Instead of riding an actual bike to get around London, spin cycling instructors promote an electric car under the guise of ‘supporting an active lifestyle’ by driving through the country’s best city for public transport.” That’s…pretty much it…
“I’m gonna ride my peloton for 45 minutes then drive 10 minutes to buy an ice cream!”
— Nick, aka John Forester’s Worst Nightmare (@c_rless) December 20, 2021
you’re going to get absolutely bodied here and fully deserve it, all the best
— dan hett (@danhett) December 20, 2021
We’ll be back with more reaction in a bit…
Summer is just around the corner
Happy #WinterSolstice. ❄️💙 It’s easy to get wrapped up in the busyness of the festive season – a blast of fresh air and time out in nature can do wonders for our wellbeing.
We’d love you to share your winter rides by tagging #WeAreCyclingUK 👇📸 pic.twitter.com/yDn0soMVz4
— Cycling UK (@WeAreCyclingUK) December 21, 2021
You’ve done it…today’s the shortest day of the year. From here we creep back towards those long spring and summer evenings. We’ll keep our eyes peeled for anyone marking the shortest day with their longest or similar challenges…
Comment of the day (so far)
and you don’t stand there holding the nozzle like you are putting in 40l of unleaded. She must have stood there for hours!
— Mr Mustard (@_MrMustard) December 21, 2021
Wout van Aert Cervélo auction reaches £11k (+ Jumbo-Visma rider wins second successive Belgian Sportsman of the Year)
The auction for Wout van Aert’s Mont Ventoux stage-winning Cervélo is up to €13,250 (£11,289), while his Tour of Britain-winning R5’s top bid is currently €7,500 (£6,390). Primož Roglič’s special red Vuelta-winning bike is still only at €6,000 (£5,113). Bargain.
> Want to buy Wout van Aert’s Mont Ventoux stage-winning Cervélo? Here’s how much it will cost you
Elsewhere in Van Aert news, the 27-year-old was, on Sunday, crowned Belgian Sportsman of the Year for a second successive year. Van Aert beat Olympic bronze medallist runner Bashir Abdi and judoka Matthias Casse to the award organised by Sporza.
“I thought it would be difficult to win again, certainly with this opposition. But that makes it all the more beautiful,” Van Aert said afterwards.
"A true classic of the genre" 10/10
A true classic of the genre pic.twitter.com/RDqH0ZmIcp
— fightforyourright (@theyoungapple) December 20, 2021
Hull City Council votes to keep emergency cycle lanes
Cycle lanes in Hull, first introduced last year as an emergency measure in response to the pandemic, will be made permanent following a vote by councillors. Hull City Council had earlier approved plans to keep the segregated lanes in the city centre.
Ann Hutchinson, a member of CycHull, told the BBC the Spring Bank infrastructure helped make people feel safe using the route.
“It makes people keep a wider berth around you so they are not so close and it can be pretty scary if something zooms right past you.”
Council monitoring of the lane showed a 37 per cent increase in cyclists, with around 1,000 using the infrastructure each day.
Councillor Dean Kirk is responsible for highways and transport, he said: “The way in which we travel is changing, and how we share the road space is a key consideration for the council.
“We appreciate that changes to how people travel may not happen overnight, but our ambition is to build a transport network that works for everyone.”
Lizzie Deignan: You can stop asking me about retirement
Lizzie Deignan sat down with Cyclingnews to talk about her historic season, and said speculation about her retirement can be put on hold for now. Deignan won the inaugural women’s Paris-Roubaix in October and said the pandemic has made her more appreciative of the sport.
“I would say you can stop asking me about retirement,” she said. “I’ll let you know when I’m thinking about it again.”
The Trek-Segafredo rider, who turned 33 on Saturday, stepped away from pro cycling in 2018 to give birth to her first child, and had suggested she would be ready to call it a day after the Tokyo Olympics.
“Being a professional athlete has its difficult times, but you look around and realise that, in the middle of a pandemic when people are struggling, I’m still getting to travel the world and still getting paid to ride my bike,” Deignan said.
Apprentice star Claude Littner to miss upcoming season while continuing recovery from e-bike crash
Anyone hoping for disasterclass interviews and red faces on the next season of The Apprentice may have to look elsewhere. No-nonsense aide to Lord Alan Sugar, Claude Littner, will not be on the latest season when it airs on the BBC in January.
> Apprentice star Claude Littner reveals he almost lost leg in e-bike crash
The 72-year-old crashed while riding his e-bike in north London in April. Doctors initially feared they may have to amputate Littner’s leg but managed to save it.
“I must have been doing no more than 10 kilometres an hour on this sort of two-track road. The next thing I knew, I was on the left-hand side of the street, my bike was in the middle of the road and I didn’t know what happened,” Littner said previously.
More barrier problems
I give up 😭- new path extension on the strawberry line. Not yet open and already out dated. Look at it! Big metal monster barrier. It’s also so narrow any bars over 50-60cm won’t go through. Was this approved by @Sustrans? pic.twitter.com/ZEkDi8Hrjb
— Ken Borg (@kenborg24) December 19, 2021
If you missed it, on Sunday, we brought you the story of cycle campaigners in York calling on the council to remove “shameful” barriers preventing disabled cyclists accessing the city’s paths.
This post shows it’s a problem elsewhere in the UK, and not just where infrastructure is outdated…
Egan Bernal plots battle strategy for Primož Doglič and Tadej Dogačar
Quienes amanecieron consentidos hoy?? 😭 pic.twitter.com/YQGyvV0cwZ
— Egan Arley Bernal (@Eganbernal) December 21, 2021
Never mind who let the dogs out? Why isn’t Egan letting the dogs in? Answers, we need them…
More Peloton-roasting Mazdapieces...
I guess just riding a bike outside wouldn’t be very on-brand for Peloton. https://t.co/Eh2Hl4cYED
— Doug van den Ham (@DvdHam) December 21, 2021
Some delicious replies and reaction to our main live blog story of the day — Peloton’s instructors driving Mazda electric cars to “support their active lifestyle”…
Chris Harrison summed it up on Twitter, “2021 — when ‘active lifestyle’ means an electric car and a fake bike.”
Ian Muirhead had some radical advice for the pair…”
This is spectacularly bad. “Fitness coaches” who train people on fake bikes promoting electric cars for an active lifestyle.
I’m going to be a maverick, but perhaps they could get a real bike and use it for both transport and fitness. It’d replace both the car & the peloton… https://t.co/0QiZlN3uf3
— Ian Muirhead (@ian_muirhead) December 21, 2021
Some were just concerned nobody had told her you don’t have to pour the electricity in like petrol…
Everyone rightly dunking on Peloton for this link-up in the replies but does… does she think you have to pour the electricity in like petrol? https://t.co/Db9MNQfgDH
— Ade Rixon (@aderixon) December 20, 2021
Graham Black commented: “Someone please tell her you don’t have to stand there and hold the nozzle while it’s charging…”
Eton Rifle added: “I love the way she seems to think that you have to stand there, holding the nozzle, waiting for the electricity to pour in. Don’t forget to jiggle the end to get those last watts out…”
On Facebook, Pete Smyth wrote: “To support my healthy diet, I’m going to open a donut shop…”
Under the live blog, DoomeFrog thinks they’ve got a better alternative, Peloton instructors charge their Mazda cars through their classes…”It could be active lifestyle if the Peloton exercise machine was used to generate the electricity to go into the car. ‘Let’s work it people, just another 95 per cent charge to go!’”
Thief steals e-bike worth more than £5,000 after tricking staff into letting him have a test ride
A thief tricked staff into letting him take an e-bike worth more than £5,000 for a test ride, only to make off with the bicycle. Paul Diani, owner of Les’s Cycles, in Canvey in Essex told the Echo he has changed his policy about test rides, and feels “violated in his own business”.
The man came into the shop on Thursday at around 1.50pm and asked to see a high-end e-bike. “He took it out and then on the way back just rode right past the staff who gave chase and was out for about 15 minutes,” Mr Diani recalled.
“It’s a Scott Randsome 920 and is high end with full suspension and high technology gears and other features. We don’t get them in often and they do sell quickly when we do. It’s normal for them to sell for this much money and for shoppers to want to try out the bikes too. I don’t know if he had a van or anything or if it was planned or anything.
“He was pretty tall and was wearing a mask and cap too and seemed like a normal chap. I will need to sell about 10 bikes to make that money back. We are also changing the rules for people who want to test out a bike too.
“We will be asking for people’s car keys and identification too otherwise nobody will get a ride on the bikes. It’s a loss of business as well as most people are honest and will buy the bike after trying it out.”
EF Education-Nippo boss Jonathan Vaughters asks the big question
So… Hate to ask… But, what is Santa Claus’ vaccine status?
— Jonathan Vaughters (@Vaughters) December 20, 2021
I want to see his biological passport and Rudolph’s FTP before I let you down that chimney…
21 December 2021, 09:13
21 December 2021, 09:13
21 December 2021, 09:13
21 December 2021, 09:13
21 December 2021, 09:13
21 December 2021, 09:13
21 December 2021, 09:13
21 December 2021, 09:13
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Latest Comments
Sadly I remember the Oxford lock all too well...
Thois has no place on ROAD CC. Please remove it. Padding out content with irrelevant partner guff isn't a good look and you'll pay for it in the long run.
Please remove this from Road CC. I got to Road CC to read road cycling stories. Stop padding out your content with irrelevant stories from partners.
I am moderately OK with a bit of a push away from non-EAPC / mobility vehicle "e-things". (Though if they're going there a bit of work on the supply side seems a sensible addition). But are they also going to mandate hi-vis for motorcyclists and if not, why not? If it's "for their own safety" then surely that should also apply to normal cyclists, pedestrians, horses and other animals on the roads... ? This couldn't just be a knee-jerk reaction to a perceived "serious issue", shurely...?
@mdavidford Plus the police in Israel have bigger things to worry about ... ... Giants dressed as bears. (And possibly what British bobbies are doing in Israel...)
Doesn't warrant a response as I don't understand your language.
They were riding single file when he started the manoeuvre in an electric van, the man cyclist pulled out without looking to see if anyone was overtaking him, reducing the 2m width my dad was giving them, the cyclist moved into his safety gap and reported it as a close pass. I hope that makes it a little clearer.
Isn't the joke: “You’re not a car!” "No, I'm actually an ambulance, but I dress casually out of hours..."
I stumbled across that on the last Friday. Bit miffed I didn't find it earlier
54 thoughts on ““If only there were a way of combining cycling with transport”: Peloton coaches drive Mazda electric cars…to “support their active lifestyle”; Wout van Aert Cervélo auction reaches £11k; Cycle lane delivery; Infra made permanent + more on the live blog”
I love the way she seems to
I love the way she seems to think that you have to stand there, holding the nozzle, waiting for the electricity to pour in. Don’t forget to jiggle the end to get those last watts out…
Old habits die hard I guess
Old habits die hard I guess
It’s not a photo of her
It’s not a photo of her ‘filling up the car’ it’s a snap photo of her connecting the car to the charging point, which everyone accepts you do have to do to get it to recharge right ?
The brief would have been simple we want the car the charging point (because it’s an electric car) and Leanne all in the same picture, so how do you arrange them in any other way ?
I dont see anything wrong with this photo or the campaign, and never understand why people get so grouchy about these really trivial things, that are tenuous at best directly linked to cycling as an activity.
without her holding the ‘pump
without her holding the ‘pump’ handle as if she’s ‘pumping fuel’. why not just car, charing point and person in the same frame. or is that not relatable enough?
“Technology idea lag” / (like
“Technology idea lag” / (like an accidental skeuomorph)? Bit like the “on the phone” hand sign which mimics an older handset design, not a smartphone. (I personally favour the “separate microphone and earpiece” one. But only Jacob Rees Mogg understands me and he can dismiss me as part of the avant gard.)
chrisonatrike wrote:
lovig the image of Rees Mogg picking up his two part landline phone and asking the operator to connect him to whomever he needs to communicate with.
wycombewheeler wrote:
He can again! “OK Google / Alexa / Siri – connect me to Lord Palmerston’s residence”. Alternatively for the Edwardian in your life Amazon have your sack covered.
JRM has a butler to answer
JRM has a butler to answer and ‘place’ telephone calls. Doesn’t he?
Thanks for the wiki link –
Thanks for the wiki link – fascinating stuff. I recall someone trying to argue against using things like letter icons for e-mail a ways back, but presumably we’ll soon reach an inflection point where letters are considered to be ‘like, IRL e-mails, innit’.
Cupov wrote:
maybe it’s so rapid she might as well hold it because it won’t take long
Awavey wrote:
Proving she can connect it without looking?
For anyone who has an EV,
For anyone who has an EV, what is the cost of leccy from one of those charge points compared to home charges?
AlsoSomniloquism wrote:
https://www.esbenergy.co.uk/ev/pricing-payg
Looks like it’s 30p/kWh, about twice what you’d pay to charge it at home.
As she is using a CCS Rapid
As she is using a CCS Rapid (50kW+) charger then ESB Energy is 30p per kWh. At home, it would be a Fast 7kW charger, depending on your tariff (eg Octopus Go – 16p or 5p per kWh). She could be using a 7kW at a supermarket for free (eg some Sainsburys, Tesco).
Overthinking much? She’s just
Overthinking much? She’s just posing for the camera…. if your mockery seems to imply that driving or having a contract with Mazda makes her a hypocrite of some sort well everyone myself included is going to hell then
I think the mockery is aimed
I think the mockery is aimed more at the company trying to greenwash.
Being a Peloton trainer doesn’t automatically make you more or less green than the next person, and nobody is having a go at the Pelotonners.
But Mazda claiming that driving an electric car ‘supports an active lifestyle’ makes it look as if they are claiming that the EV is by itself a ‘green’ mode of transport.
An EV is greener than some modes of transport, but only for certain values or categories of ‘green’.
EDIT: I suppose Mazda maybe are saying you can strap your MTB to the back and use their EV to drive somewhere to ride around in mud, instead of riding there, but you could say that about any ICE vehicle too… (“I use my ten year old diesel Mondeo to support my active lifestyle”).
Just to note that the Mazda
Just to note that the Mazda does not support a towing hitch, eg for a hitch-mounted bicycle rack, but it does support load on the roof.
The active travel future –
The active travel future – electric pickup trucks.
Reminds me of that picture of
Reminds me of that picture of congestion now, and then congestion when everyone has electric vehicles. Surprise, surprise – they look the same!
How will ‘refuelling’ EVs work anyway – when you have queues at petrol stations now, for the few minutes it takes to put dead dinosaur juice in an ICE car, how will it work for queuing at EV recharge points?
brooksby wrote:
Pre-pandemic, I imagine quite a few of us used short-haul flights to support our active lifestyles. But at least we weren’t flying to the supermarket…
Well if it’s self-criticism
Well if it’s self-criticism time I confess I have regularly used cars, vans and trains to access the countryside although I do ride there sometimes too (thereby not making it a journey – you can’t win). I also wish for several counts of not having grown my own bike to be taken in to consideration.
Duncann wrote:
True.
(and just to be clear, that quote wasn’t by me but was an entirely fictional quote that I imagine some people could use…).
(and – I haven’t flown anywhere since 1981. My wife and children have never flown).
brooksby wrote:
Aha! Children! That’s the biggest climate crime, comrade! Unless you’re outsourcing them somewhere much less resource-intensive.
chrisonatrike wrote:
Nothing I can do about that now…
I’m not sure criticism of
I’m not sure criticism of Mazda is justified here. They’re just doing their job, promoting their cars. It’s Peloton who are trying to somehow cram these cars into their brand, presumably in order to fulfill some kind of agreement with Mazda. And as Peloton’s business is a sort of gym that you do at home, it’s hard to see how driving fits in to it. But let’s not kid ourselves that either Peloton or Mazda have anything to do with cycling.
Bmblbzzz wrote:
Everyone drives to the gym. So for the full home gym experience, you’ve got to do a lap of your housing estate in the EV before you hop on the Peloton.
Bmblbzzz wrote:
But they claimed driving a car supported an active lifestyle. Up until that final sentence I would have agreed with you.
Bmblbzzz wrote:
Well, it is Mazda promoting it and it’s always cringeworthy when a car manufacturer tries to link their product with active lifestyle (not travel!) and nature. It’s surprising how many car adverts are now all about the image and very little about the product (almost as bad as perfume ads).
hawkinspeter wrote:
I got the impression it was a Peloton promotion: “Look how green we are!” – which Mazda had simply cooperated with. I’d think makers of EVs get loads of slebs and firms wanting to be seen in their “green transport”. It’s just particularly cringeworthy when it’s something supposedly “active” like Peloton.
Agree absolutely that it’s greenwashing on all sides, and as for car adverts being about image not the product – that’s been largely the case for a couple of decades (certainly pre-EVs). Though admittedly it used to be more cup holders and cosy living-room interiors rather than running on unicorn farts and emitting a trail of rainbows.
The tweet was by Mazda UK
The tweet was by Mazda UK
hawkinspeter wrote:
I think it was ever thus… the sports car carving through corners down a deserted twisting coast road toward an exclusive seaside town… the SUV in the woods, with a strapping owner unloading a MTB, canoe and a tent.
The reality of sitting in a traffic jam in a generic hatchback SUV-thing in drizzle trying to get to B&Q wouldn’t really appeal.
Bmblbzzz wrote:
Yes, and their job is planet trashing and green washing
So that’s alright then…
“They fall over on real bikes
“They fall over on real bikes”
With a Mazda MX30 they will
With a Mazda MX30 they will need to get very familiar with charging up, with real world range of around 100 miles. Not really fit for purpose and waste of resources.
Poor choice of a BEV, an ICE
Poor choice of a BEV, an ICE car with the engine, etc. replaced with an electric motor and battery. The battery is small (30kWh). This would have been a reasonable BEV from about 3-4 years ago.
Most car journeys are much
Most car journeys are much shorter than 100 miles. It’ll be reet.
Range anxiety is a real problem, but realistically if you’re going to drive to Skye once a year, you can rent a car for that, or use your household’s second car, or get a range-extended hybrid or whatever. (I’ve seen some electric car advocates suggest that we get used to regular, wholesome stops at motorway services to stretch our legs and drink a £5 coffee. Not sure I’d go that far in my advocacy).
You can buy a Thermos for £5!
You can buy a Thermos for £5!
It could be active lifestyle
It could be active lifestyle if the Peleton Excercise machine was used to generate the electricity to go into the car.
“Let’s work it people, just another 95% charge to go!”
DoomeFrog wrote:
That would have been a good promotion actually… get ‘credit’ for the watts you produce during a Peloton workouts to get free charging. You could be there a while though before you got a charge…
https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/a32699289/human-powered-tesla/
I’m waiting for them to
I’m waiting for them to invent an e-bike with a generator on it to keep it charged in perpetuity while you are cycling using the forward momentum.
Like a hybrid EV, then? Which
Like a hybrid EV, then? Which (as I understand it) uses the ICE to charge the battery on longer drives, so the battery is available when you’re in town and/or at low speeds.
Saw a comment on the Daily
Saw a comment on the Daily Mail website recently which said “Why don’t electric cars have windmills on top so they could generate electricity when they go along and then they wouldn’t need charging stations.”
That’s one dim comment for a
That’s one dim comment for a man, but a giant intellectual leap for a Daily Mail reader
Well as long as they’re going
Well as long as they’re going upwind they’re on the right tack… Update: or downwind too!
It is a shame for Les’s
It is a shame for Les’s Cycles that they met a dickwad thief, but I’m surprised they didn’t already have something in place for test rides, either someone riding with them or credit card and photo id. I know Road.cc at Cannock Chase and The Cycle show had someone handing over cards on their testing days and full ID required to prove card was genuine.
Why you shouldn’t drive suv
Why you shouldn’t drive suv in central london as it is impossible to see properly
https://twitter.com/WorldBollard/status/1473255639463960581
I’m not interested in Peloton
I’m not interested in Peloton and I don’t believe electric cars are The Answer, but…I’m uncomfortable with social media pile-ons, and the ritual humiliation of the day’s target.
Yeah leave her alone, she
Yeah leave her alone, she does her job and isn’t going to cycling everywhere.
HarrogateSpa wrote:
I think it’s fair enough if it’s marketing twaddle and the humiliation is aimed at a company.
Cyclist on audi/bmw bike
Cyclist on audi/bmw bike
https://twitter.com/WorldBollard/status/1469417823575420939
The Peloton / Mazda story
The Peloton / Mazda story reminds me of people I see in the gym – who drive to the gym, park up and then get on the tread mill. Just walk or jog to the gym; you’ll get a better workout. And then you can turn around and run home again and save on subscription fees too.
Lukas wrote:
That’s why gyms prefer to use a locked-in subscription model – if you’re already paying for the use of a gym, then not using it would be wasting money.
hawkinspeter wrote:
I think they bank on a certain number not using it, giving them a free income.
wycombewheeler wrote:
Definitely. Anyone who knows people (some of my best friends are people) knows that best intentions often go unrealised – especially when they involve getting uncomfortably hot, sweaty and out-of-breath. Similarly I wonder what percentage of bikes sold just gather dust in garages? I hear a lot of home treadmills also serve excellent duty as clothes dryers.